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Friday 17 April 2015

1980's British Airways Air stewardess Doll


I got this little girl inflight sometime in the early 1980's...she's been kept in her box most of the time


The Stewardess who sold her to me was wearing the exact same outfit lol that spun me out a bit!!



.•:*¨¨*:•. Mini Trollz & Ooak Custom Troll .•:*¨¨*:•.

Several years ago I got my hands on a Mini Trollz dolls and Pod set - I can't remember where from but anyway, the Trollz have interchangeable heads and came with a Pod (house) with bed, telephone and  TV... 

 I really love the geometric shapes of the pod, but to be honest, I didn't really have much use of it and while I like the Trollz faces, their bodies just don't have that "chunky feel" to them that I expect from a Troll, so I started wondering what I could do with them, other than selling them of course.

Hasbro Mini Trollz with Pod
That second body had a head too but as you'll see in the photograph below, I stole it as I got an idea in my head I just couldn't shake and so ...

Ooak Troll child

I whipped off Shelly's head and replaced it ... yay now I have a beautiful new little girl...loads cuter than either of the original dolls I stole the parts from too!

Mr. Whiskers from Frankenweenie - A Wish List Request!

While this is not really a doll post and does serve as a great excuse for me to put these adorable images up online, there is a doll related  theme to it ... honest!

It comes in the form of a question: "Does anybody know of someone who makes Mr.Whiskers figures? 


I'm envisioning him made in wool using that awesome technique that some very clever folks seem to have mastered.

I was thinking maybe Violet Pie on Etsy had, but sadly no...


For me he needs to look as close to these images as possible.

 Doesn't have to be in felt mind, plastic would do - but not the official "plush" one, I'm not so keen on him.


Please let me know if you have any info' for me... Thankies!

Hugs,

.•:*¨¨*: Oz The Great and Powerful - China Girl Doll .•:*¨¨*:•.

A few months ago I purchased a Jakks Pacific "China Girl" Doll from Oz The Great and Powerful film. 

I fell in love with the look of her - not the character herself though (she was bloody annoying!) while watching the film and hoped that there would soon be a doll released of her and to my delight both Disney and Jakks Pacific did.

Disney released a porcelain version, while being more movie accurate the cracks looked weird on her - well to my mind anyway.

I discovered that the Jakks Pacific version had been moulded to resemble a cracked china doll too, so I decided to buy her and paint the cracks so they stand out better myself.


 I decided to take photographs as I unboxed her as I had the idea that I would do a review when I wrote my post about her - I'm not so sure that I want to now though as this is another post which has been sitting in my "Drafts" folder for several months and I really want to just get all these posts up in the quickest time possible - but then again, what is the point of a post if I have nothing useful or interesting to say?!


The box as you can see has a large viewing pane shaped like an "O"  - a reference to the character Oz. Once the inner is removed from the cardboard you see it is made of transparent plastic, with a cardboard backing. 

The plastic is also shaped in a similar way to the cardboard outer box.

Be very careful when removing the inner plastic container as the cardboard box is very flimsy once this is removed.

Unless of course you don't wish to keep the box - In which case, just ignore me!


To remove the doll you have to take the inner right out of the cardboard box, and turn it over as the fastenings are all located on the back.

The plastic shell is fastened by a series of tabs which slot through the cardboard backing and are secured with sellotape with the doll itself being secured to this using cable ties... you have to undo all of the plastic tabs prior to attempting to remove the doll, to do this it is easier to cut through the sellotape holding them using a craft knife.


Once the plastic outer shell is removed the cable ties have to be taken out in order to get to your doll as she is firmly secured to the cardboard backing. 

The ties aren't the usual plastic coated ones that are normally used on this kind of packaging and this makes them harder to untwist.


After removing the twist ties you then have to remove the thingame ties (like you find on clothing) which is holding her neck onto the backing cardboard - these have to be cut off so that the doll is accessible as it is tied on pretty tight.


Now that all the ties are removed you can remove the doll from the backing - do this carefully...


Her dress is made of a tough stiff, slightly crunchy fabric (I'm not sure what you call it) it's also very shiny which made it hard to photograph well enough to show the pattern printed onto it.

"Arrgh... Bright Light"
Once I removed her from the packaging, I set about testing her posability and tightness of joints, in other words, how well she can hold these poses before her arms etc get tired and she has to drop them!

 Oh I forgot to mention, as well as her beautiful dress she comes wearing moulded on blue "kidney warmers" and a cute pair of Mary Jane style shoes (also moulded onto her).

Btw... does anyone know why they are called that?  When I was small we called them "Beetle crushers"!

Anyhoo, I digress...


Her body is covered in "cracks" making her reminiscent of an Easter Egg! 

These are moulded into the plastic and are all over her body, minus her girl pants and shoes of course... She even has fainter ones moulded into her face and throughout her hair.


Her limbs move smoothly, with only a very slight stiffness from her "newness" but this is good as there is nothing worse than floppy limbs. It is very easy to place her into a number of weird poses and she holds each with no problem whatsoever.


The above photograph shows the crack marks better and also her 13 points of articulation.

She has quite a wide body which makes her feel very sturdy and also helps with balance when posing her.

I'm not sure if I already mentioned that she stands at 15 inches high, or thereabouts, which is another reason her slightly stockier (compared to other dolls) frame helps give her a very sturdy feel.

I find her very deceptive as while she looks delicate she is anything but an would likely cope well with intense play - although this girl, being mine, is obviously not destined for that.


I decided I wanted her "cracks" to show up more as I love the way old dolls look when they have been cracked but are so well loved they have been glued back together many times over the years, and as that really fits with the theme of this doll, I decided I would bring them out with the help of my trusty tool kit!


I got to work on this straight away but I really was not expecting it to be the huge undertaking which it became, she is currently on hold as the paint job I've already given her took me two and a half episodes of  The Sopranos to do and became so tedious I began to wonder if I was going insane!


I kept trying to make the ones on her face show up better too but each time I did I found it detracted from her features and so I removed it as she has such a beautiful face I hated to do anything to it that made it hard for her beauty to shine through.

I'm still not 100% happy with the cracks in her hair so I'll probably redo them at some time...


I also retouched her eyes as I wanted them to have a more glass-like appearance, I'm not 100% that that worked either!

So work may or not continue on her - the plan was to do a full body crack definition on her, but I quite like the way she looks right now so I might not, an all over crack definition may be a bit too much and seeing as how long this small amount took I'd be right gutted if I spent all that time on her only to have to remove it all later... hmmm

Customisation aside, this doll is truly lovely - she's just as I hoped she would be: beautiful, easy to pose, holds poses well, smooth movement and is very very close to her onscreen counterpart.

 I'd definitely recommend her to anyone who wanted my advice about buying themselves or a child in their life one.

Hugs,

Thursday 16 April 2015

I love Lucy "Lucy is Envious" Pink Label Collectors Edition Lucy & Ethel

Google Images 


Based on episode 89 of the Cult classic I Love Lucy Show "Lucy is Envious" from 1954; in which Lucy after exaggerating her wealth and status after being contacted by her former classmate to make a charitable donation, in a bid to impress her, unfortunately Lucy doesn't have the $500 she promised and needs to find a way to make money so with Ethel she takes a job promoting the release of a new film called "Women from Mars".

They end up dressed as Martians and have to "invade" the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building... As you can imagine, mayhem ensues!

Google Images 

Mattel have paid homage to this insane episode with the release of this two Shelly doll pack in 2009.`

The doll's are dressed in replica "Martian" outfits complete with wings and antennas and even their little "Ray Guns" tucked into their belts as Lucy and Ethel wore in the episode.


Barbie Collector.com

The dolls stand at approximately 4 inches high, which adds to the appeal of this set for me, I don't think they would be half as cute if they were Barbie sized.

 They come displayed in a clear plastic box against a backdrop which depicts the entire scene from the episode.

This set looks great displayed - I just love everything about it, from Lucy & Ethel's costumes to the backdrop behind them, and of course their funny little pointy noses and adorable ray guns!



I found these girls while nosing around Barbie Collector.com one day in 2009 and was unable to resist them, I just love strange dolls and they don't come much stranger looking than this pair!

I hit a snag though, I live in the U.K and Barbie Collector only ship to the U.S... I was gutted until one day I was discussing it with a friend of mine who lived in Maryland and he said "Use my address, and I'll send them onto you" - How cool is that?!

Sadly, this is the only way someone like me is able to buy any of Barbie Collectors Dolls, so I try very hard not to look at the site very often, but it is a great way around things providing you have someone in the U.S that you know you can trust.

The other sad thing is that this doll set has been retired by Mattel for several years now, but they can be purchased on Ebay I've discovered and possibly on Amazon (don't quote me on that one!) but if you do go looking on Ebay for these girls expect to pay a lot more than their original $8.00.

If you are interested in browsing Ebay for them, click this link: "Lucy is Envious" and it'll take you straight to the available listings.

have fun,

Wednesday 15 April 2015

1996 Marvel Collectors Edition 12 Inch Black Cat Doll by Toy Biz

              http://marveluniverse.mex.tl/1517900_Black-Cat.html

In 1996 Toy Biz released their Marvel Collectors Edition range of 12 inch dolls. I have to admit I was too busy bringing up a 1 year old to know this had even happened and it wasn't until a few years ago when I found a listing for an interesting looking doll on Ebay that I discovered it had...

 I must also confess like the seller I hadn't the faintest notion what the doll was supposed to be - I should have clicked straight away to that outfit but I was obviously in "Derp Mode" but not so derpy that I didn't know that she most certainly wasn't the "Friend of Barbie" that she was listed as.

She has such an interesting face mould and I just loved the fact that she had white hair instead of the more usual blonde that so many dolls have. I decided to try for her and in the meantime, while I waited to discover if I had been successful or not, I did some research on her, sadly there wasn't much available information on the doll range at the time so I guess she's kind of rare.

I'll check again before I finish this post, but first let me tell you a little bit about the character known as The Black Cat...

http://marvel.wikia.com/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_194
"The Black Cat" is the alter ego of Felicity Hardy, the daughter of a doctor and a cat burglar and villainess / Spidey love interest. She first appeared in Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man Comic number 194,in 1979.

Intent on revenge against her ex boyfriend for reasons I won't go into, she trained in martial & acrobatics, due to events beyond her control she never got the opportunity to use her new found skills against him. Instead she decided to follow in her Father's footsteps and become a cat burglar herself - hence the costume.

http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=1039


















It was on one of her crime sprees that she met Spiderman and felt a kinship with him, this developed into infatuation and love. Spiderman saw the good in her and attempted to help her, she in turn helped him and the two teamed up at times to fight crime together!

She now uses her skills as a crime fighter in her own right and has yet to revert back to her old villainous ways.

background-pictures.picphotos.net - website address no longer active
As you can see from the illustrations above and below she is portrayed as a strong, sexy woman who is a powerful ally or enemy.

 She is a perpetrator of crime and also a crime fighter.

She has a vulnerability about her and has been the victim of an horrendous crime (hence her need for revenge) and yet she is in no way a weak woman and instead of allowing this to break her she instead draws a strength of will and a determination instead.

 All in all she's a pretty good role model figure for young girls - minus the villainy of course!

background-pictures.picphotos.net - website address no longer active
Seeing as I'm not prepared to give anymore of her story away - I just hate spoilers - I guess it's now about time for some photographs of her doll form, afterall that's what this post is about!


Her mask is removable but as I haven't tried I can't say if the rest of her outfit is, but it fits her so snuggly I really don't want to attempt it in case I rip it like the clumsy oaf I am.

 Also I bought her as a loose collector's doll, so I photograph and display her only, therefore I have no reason to even try.


Just look at the length of her hair, it's really good quality too and holds position well while removing or replacing her mask.

Her gloves are a bit of a problem for me though, they look so oversized - I haven't tried to remove them either as I hate trying to get dolls gloves back on, it's such a pain.

Here she is unmasked... Just look at that face mould, isn't she something?

There is a kind of masculinity to the shape of her jaw but that can possibly be explained away as an attempt to show the inner strength that this character possesses, after all, men are supposed to be the stronger of the two sexes - in terms of physicality this true, but the Feminist in me knows that women have an inner strength that most men are grateful for in times of hardship, or at least that is the case within my family.

I said earlier that I would have another search for information on this doll, but apart from a few Ebay listings of boxed dolls I can't really find anything.

I thought it would be cool to add a picture of what she looked like boxed but nagdabbit all the images I could find were either too small or taken at a funny angle - Sorry about that.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Maleficent Doll or "Buyer Beware"

 Ever since I first watched the Walt Disney's Classic Sleeping Beauty  when I was tiny, I wished I could have my own Maleficent Doll, ok that's not quite true, I wanted the Three Good Fairy Godmothers and Diablo the raven, in miniature to keep as pets... I also wanted a miniature "Crone", Evil Step Mother, The Seven Dwarves and the friendly Forest Animals from Snow White in living miniature versions, but that's another story...

In my fantasy I would grow up to become Maleficent, be able to use lightning as a weapon, wear an Atora Headdress and be able to transform into a Dragon at will.

As I grew up I discovered that unfortunately I would never be able to fulfil these wishes but on becoming an adult the possibility of having a mini version of Maleficent in doll form began to  take form in my mind - I have for many years harboured the knowledge that one day I'll get around to making myself one..

In 1997 Disney released their Classic Doll Collection and a beautiful green skinned movie perfect Maleficent was amongst those dolls released... So I found I had another opportunity to own a Maleficent Doll, but at the same time the artist in me still wanted to make my own.


Although I still haven't gotten around to making myself a Maleficent, I do now own an "Official" Maleficent Doll - She is one of those released by Disney in 2013. But there is nothing like "making your own doll", so I have never put the idea to rest and still find myself eyeing up dolls with this idea in mind.


With the release of the recent Maleficent film there was the inevitable merchandise, amongst these are the Disney and Jakks Pacific Maleficent Dolls, both bearing a strong resemblance to Angelina Jolie.


While I am in no way a fan of Angelina Jolie's acting skills and have no desire to ever watch the Maleficent Movie, these dolls seemed like the perfect base on which to make my custom.

In particular I felt the Jakks Pacific version would better suit my purposes, the price was of course lower too, especially as at the time there seemed to be an influx of these dolls, but not so many official Disney Dolls, and when doing customs I much prefer to use a less expensive doll (or in the case of Monster High - one I already have) otherwise I'll feel bad about stripping and repainting her...

The fact that they both have the Atora Headdress already moulded onto their head was a quite a selling point for me - I must confess that I have on many occasions wondered how the heck to make her crazy headdress, which would make either of these dolls an idea candidate for customisation.

I also love the strong chiseled jaw and cheekbones these dolls have. So I went ahead and purchased a Jakks Pacific Maleficent from a U.K based Seller on Ebay... Or so I thought...

The first nasty surprise I had was when I was waiting for the doll to arrive and had the realisation that the doll was actually coming from China not The U.K.

After waiting a month she finally arrived and instead of the doll in the above photograph, I received this:


I was at first struck how unlike the photograph on the listing the doll I received is, and certainly was not the Jakks Pacific Doll I had been lead to believe and paid for. The box is a poor imitation, flimsy too and the backdrop behind the doll is clearly an image that has been enlarged so much it has pixelated.


After realising that she is clearly a counterfeit, I thought well I guess she'll just have to do as sending her back is certainly not an option.

Her face mould is pretty good so what the hell, so I began to open and inspect her...


I began to remove her from the packaging and discovered another nasty surprise - her dress is made of such flimsy poor quality fabric that it had ripped around the velcro strip and frayed so much, where the maker had placed the plastic ties to hold the doll into her box.


As you can see when viewed from the front, her dress is only slightly like the Jakks Pacific Doll's dress. It has a similar pattern to the fabric, but there is no stiff stand up collar, just an oversized fabric floppy one, and no choker around her neck.


I carefully removed her dress to check out the doll's body, with the hope that I would be able to salvage more of her than just her head, instead I got another horrible surprise: The doll's body is covered in stains from where the dye of her dress has seeped into the plastic.


The body of the doll is so cheap and flimsy. It also creaks loudly when the legs are moved and aside from standing or sitting with her legs out in front of her, there really are no other poses this body is capable of.

The distance between her legs make her body look stupid when her clothes are removed.

Her legs are so skinny that they are of absolutely useless to me in terms of salvage. That goes for the rest of her body really, apart from the head the arms may be of some use if I need temporary arms for some reason, but definitely not as replacements.

Basically, this body style is only worth being recycled, that way it may actually become something of use in the future!


So now I guess I have my Maleficent head to customise which will be completely stripped prior to use.

But the body is destined for the bin, I can't even see any salvage benefit in it - it's that bad!


Her face mould is nice, but "Nagdabbit"! I was angry, I've been totally duped - the price I paid and the month's wait was not worth it for just a head... 


If I was in the market for just a head to use, I could have either used one of my "victims" or bought a different doll's head for this purpose.

I'd bought a Maleficent Doll in particular as I had plans for her, and having a ready made dress too was I thought a bonus as most of my customs have to wait months for completion just because I haven't had the time to get my machine out and materials together, draw up and tweak patterns, resize etc and everything else that goes along with it.

The neck hole is handy, it should fit easily on another body - hopefully, I haven't checked this yet but meh, something has to give...

























Side by side it's easy to see the quality difference between these two dolls, that said it's unfathomable that the seller could have made a mistake... They planned to rip people off and sadly it was my bad luck that I was their patsy, but "Hell no" were they going to be getting away with it!

I contacted them, I sent photographs of the damages and told them in no uncertain terms that I was not made aware that the goods they were selling are counterfeit... They ignored me!

I persisted and Ebay returned the full payment to me, so I guess I shouldn't complain anymore as I got her for free and as the saying goes "You get what you pay for"!

As you know, I'm not against "Clone Dolls" some of them are really beautiful, especially the vintage ones, and I did buy a "knock off" Wydona Spider Doll several months back when the only version of her available was the Comic Con Exclusive that came with a ridiculous price tag.

 The fact that this doll is not an Official Doll is not the issue, the issue is it WAS sold as being one, the listing photograph was of an official product, and the product received was anything but...

And so the point of this post is really is to serve as a warning to other buyers - Please be careful when buying yourself or anyone else a Maleficent Doll, ask questions, look closely at photographs, and if in doubt - don't buy it!